George Routledge set up business as a retail bookseller with his brother-in-law W. H. Warne as assistant in 1836. Warne was made a partner in 1848 and, after his brother Frederick Warne was made a partner in 1851, the firm was renamed George Routledge & Company. The firm moved to Farringdon Street in 1852 and opened a New York branch in 1854. Robert Warne Routledge, George Routledge's son, entered the partnership in 1858 and the firm was renamed Routledge, Warne & Routledge. W. H. Warne died in 1859 and Frederick Warne left the firm in 1865. That same year, Edmund Routledge became a partner and the firm was renamed George Routledge & Sons. They also moved to Broadway, Ludgate Hill at this time.

J. L. Blamire was an artist and a representative for George Routledge & Sons.